V.

Adamchik 1

Integer Divisibility
Victor Adamchik

Fall of 2005

Lecture 5 (out of seven)

Plan
1. Introduction to Diophantine Equations
2. Linear Diophantine Equations
3. Positive solutions to LDE

Introduction
Definition. Let P x, y, ... is a polynomial with integer coefficients in one or more variables. A
Diophantine equation is an algebraic equation

P x, y, z, ... 0

for which integer solutions are sought.

For example,

2x 3y 11

7 x2 5 y2 2x 4y 11 0

y3 x3 z3

The problem to be solved is to determine whether or not a given Diophantine equation has solu-
tions in the domain of integer numbers.

In 1900 Hilbert proposed 23 most important unsolved problems of 20th century. His 10th problem
was about solvability a general Diophantine equation. Hilbert asked for a universal method of
solving all Diophantine equations.
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What is the notion of solvable? What is the notion of an algorithm?

1930. Godel, Kleene, Turing developed the notion of computability.

1946. Turing invented Universal Turing Machine and discovered basic unsolvable problems

1970 Y. Matiyasevich proved that the Diophantine problem is unsolvable.

Theorem (Y. Matiyasevich) There is no algorithm which, for a given arbitrary Diophantine equa-
tion, would tell whether the equation has a solution or not.

By the way, Goldbach's conjecture (which was mentioned a few lectures back) is Hilbert's 8th
problem.

Linear Diophantine Equations

Definition.
A linear Diophantine equation (in two variables x and y) is an equation

ax by c

with integer coefficients a, b, c to which we seek integer solutions.

It is not obvious that all such equations solvable. For example, the equation

2x 2y 1

does not have integer solutions.

Some linear Diophantine equations have finite number of solutions, for example

2x 4

and some have infinite number of solutions.

Thereom.
The linear equation a, b, c

ax by c

has an integer solution in x and y gcd a, b c

V. Adamchik 3

Proof.
)

gcd a, b a gcd a, b b

gcd a, b xa yb gcd a, b c

Given

gcd a, b c z , c gcd a, b z

On the other hand

x1 , y1 , gcd a, b x1 a y1 b.

Multiply this by z:

z gcd a, b a x1 z b y1 z

c a x1 z b y1 z

Then the pair x1 z and y1 z is the solution

QED.

How do you find a particular solution?

ax by c

By extended Euclidean algorithm we find gcd and such n and m that

a n b m gcd a, b

Multiply this by c

a n c b m c gcd a, b c

Divide it by gcd

n c m c
a b c
gcd a, b gcd a, b
V. Adamchik 21-127: Concepts of Mathematics

Compare this with the original equation

ax by c

It follows that a particular solution is

n c m c
x0 ; y0
gcd a, b gcd a, b

Question. Are x0 and y0 integer?

Exercise. Find a particular solution of

56 x 72 y 40

Solution. Run the EEA to find GCD, n and m

GCD 56, 72 8 4 56 3 72

Then one of the solutions is

4 40 3 40
x0 ; y0
8 8

x0 20; y0 15

How do you find all solutions?

ax by c

By the extended Euclidean algorithm we find gcd and such n and m that

gcd a, b a n b m

gcd a, b c a n c b m c

Next we add and subtract a b k, where k

gcd a, b c a n c b m c a b k a b k

Collect terms with respect a and b

a nc bk b mc ak gcd a, b c

Divide this by gcd a, b

V. Adamchik 5

nc bk mc ak
a b c
gcd a, b gcd a, b

It can be rewritten as

nc bk mc ak
c a b
gcd a, b gcd a, b gcd a, b gcd a, b

or

b k a k
c a x0 b y0
gcd a, b gcd a, b

k 0, 1, 2, ...

since x0 , y0 is a particular solution.

Therefore, all integers solutions are in the form

bk ak
x x0 y y0
gcd a, b gcd a, b

k 0, 1, 2, ...

Exercise. Find all integer solutions of

56 x 72 y 40

Solution. Run the EEA to find GCD, n and m

GCD 56, 72 8 4 56 3 72

All solutions are in the form

nc bk
x
gcd a, b gcd a, b

mc ak
y
gcd a, b gcd a, b

Hence

4 40 72 k
x 20 9 k
8 8
V. Adamchik 21-127: Concepts of Mathematics

3 40 56 k
y 15 7 k
8 8

Positive solutions of LDE

In some applications it might required to find all positive solutions x, y .

We take a general solution

nc bk
x
gcd a, b gcd a, b

mc ak
y
gcd a, b gcd a, b

from which we get two inequalities

nc bk 0

mc ak 0

To find out how many positive solutions a given equation has let us consider two cases

1. ax by c, gcd a, b 1, a, b 0

2. ax by c, gcd a, b 1, a, b 0

It follows that in the first case, the equation has a finite number of solutions

nc mc
k
b a

In the second case, there is an infinite number of solutions

nc b k 0

mc a k 0

Exercise. Determine the number of solutions in positive integers

4x 7y 117

Solution.
V. Adamchik 7

GCD 4, 7 1 2 4 1 7

The number of solutions in positive integers can be determined from the system

nc bk 0

mc ak 0

which for our equation transforms to

2 117 7 k 0

1 117 4 k 0

This gives

2 117 117
k
7 4

There 4 such k, namely k 33, 32, 31, 30.

LDEs with three variables

Consider

3x 6y 5z 7

GCD 3, 6 x 2y 5z 7

Let

w x 2y

The equation becomes

3w 5z 7

Its general solution is

w 2 7 5k

z 1 7 3k

since
V. Adamchik 21-127: Concepts of Mathematics

GCD 3, 5 1 2 3 1 5

Next we find x and y

x 2y 14 5k

Since GCD 1, 2 14 5 k , the equation is solvable and the solution is

x 1 14 5k 2 l

y 0 14 5k 1 l

where l is another parameter. Here are all triple-solutions

x 5k 2l 14

y l

z 7 3k

where

k, l 0, 1, 2, ...